Buy a sweet and crunchy peach to eat immediately but also after several days, even keeping it out of the refrigerator. It is the dream in the drawer of many consumers tired of fruits that are too perishable and with 'surprise' flavors, two factors that have caused a certain disaffection over time. From this assumption, the research project of Crea dedicated to stony hard fishing, a variety of oriental origin characterized by little or no emission of ethylene at maturation, started. The secret is to extend the lifespan of the fruit on the tree and harvest it at a more advanced stage of ripeness, which guarantees optimal organoleptic characteristics with a high sweetness and crunchiness. All this by lengthening the ripening calendar which runs from the beginning of July to the end of August.
"The stony-hard have very innovative characteristics compared to those on the market", the researcher of Crea Daniela Giovannini explains to ANSA, "the pulp is very firm and crunchy almost like an apple, moreover, having a late flowering period, they are less exposed to cold weather damage at the end of winter which in the last two years has compromised production in many areas ". And it is precisely the Ismea data that heralds the 2021 campaign among the most complicated of the last 30 years, with orchards cut down by frost in the flowering phase and crops down by 10%. On the market front, the Bank notes, demand is slow with prices at origin that are unsatisfactory for producers, while retail prices are at levels that discourage purchases. Since the beginning ofGenetic improvement activities for the stony hard character The work of crossing and selection of Crea has led to a perfection of the aesthetics of the fruits in terms of shape and color of the skin from the two-tone pink-red nuanced to decisive red to win back the consumer who is increasingly attentive to mix between flavor and aesthetics.
